March News

Getting Through This Together...

Click image to watch on Facebook

We hope that you are all well and in good health and spirits in these uncertain and unsettling times.

We are still working – from a distance – at Boys in Mind. We are encouraging young people to send us films (or photos) of what they and their families are doing to keep mentally and physically healthy. Eli, one of our Youth Advisors, launched our “Getting Through This Together” campaign with 2 short films earlier this week and we’ve also got short films from Otto, Will and Finn & Eva (whose film about following the 5 Ways to Wellbeing has had 1000 views after only 10 hours of being posted).

PLEASE SHARE THESE and encourage young people you know to send us similar short videos. We have reminded them to make sure their parents/carers are OK with what they send if they are under 18. We’ll be posting more films from young people in the weeks to come.

Bath Half Marathon

Click image to watch Sam's interview after completing the Bath Half in aid of Boys in Mind

Huge congratulations to our magnificent 10 Bath Half runners – Tara, George, Anya, Jim, Anne, James, Jake, Will, Sam and Charles, who braved the elements and completed the distance in a variety of ways to raise (at the time of writing this ) an amazing £4,335.91 for Boys in Mind. We look forward to treating them to a pizza and a pint when things get back to normal .

Girls Mind Too

Healthy Relationships Project

Though our very first meet up did not take place ‘in person’ some of us have connected via video call and have shared ideas.We discussed what positive changes are happening due to the work Boys In Mind is already doing, and what changes are impacting specifically on women and girls.

So far people involved in the conversation say the BIM film projects are definitely helping to break down gender stereotypes. The films encourage people, particularly boys and young men to find ways to start talking about feelings and emotions. The group agrees that more young men and boys communicating in an open way will ultimately lead to more balance in relationships as more ‘give and take’ develops.

When talking about what we are looking for in healthy relationships key elements so far are: trust, respect and patience.

In true BIM/GMT style we are facing up to the challenges of the current time and continuing our consultation for this project via email, telephone and video call.

If this is a conversation you would like to take part in and are aged between 11 and 25, please do get in touch, as we would love to hear from you, via info@boysinmind.co.uk

Film Projects Update

The Coronavirus has placed restrictions on everyone and has inevitably slowed up some of our film projects. However we now have 27 films on the website, which are divided into different categories and with hyperlinks to each individual film so that they can be shared easily.

We have projects underway at Twerton Infants, Norton Hill, St Laurence, Ralph Allen, Paulton Junior School , Newbridge , St Stephens and Welton Primary, as well as Elmfield School for Deaf Young People in Bristol.

Comms Update

Kit – BiM Comms Officer

We are growing our online communities, slowly but surely! We have 205 Likes and 215 Followers on Facebook. These have both grown by 22% since the start of the year. Our Twitter and Instagram followings are also growing with 158 and 116 followers respectively. Our tweets were encountered by 15,000 people in the last month. Small but powerful!

The more that our posts are shared, the more followers we recruit so please always click the Share button on new Facebook posts to spread the word! Our #GettingThroughThisTogether videos have been viewed over 2,200 times in the last seven days which highlights the power of sharing. We would get a big boost in people who like the page and see our posts if everyone in the team invited their friends to give us a like. You can easily do this by clicking on the three dots under the BIM cover picture and selecting Invite Friends.

In order to keep growing, we always need more content so if you are doing anything BIM-related that offers photo/video opportunities, please send them to us! If you spot anything that you think might be of interest to the Boys in Mind community – useful links, news stories, interesting research etc – then please also send it to us! If you tweet stuff @boysinminduk then we can retweet it. The comms phone has WhatsApp so can easily receive photos and videos.

Jamie McIntosh - March Q&A

For our March Q&A, we met Jamie McIntosh, a consultant surgeon who specialises in breast cancer. He told us how supporting the mental health of patients is crucial during their treatment and why communication with patients inspires him to find the best treatments for everyone. Click here to read Jamie’s Q&A.

March Blogs

Kate and Henry have written a blog for the Solution Focused Collective, showing how Boys in Mind uses a solution-focused approach and how it has been a vital part of our organisation’s development and work with young people.

Click here to read the full blog on the Solution Focused Collective website.

Cooking with Confidence

Despite being confined to our homes and “social-distancing”, Boys in Mind Youth Advisors have been busy on Facebook and elsewhere with ways to ease the burden on our mental health. In this month’s blog – Levi talks about how cooking has helped him build his confidence and the benefits of a hobby. Click here to read full blog.

St. Laurence Podcast

Students from St. Laurence School, BonA

In this month’s podcast we talk to students from St Laurence School, Bradford on Avon about the pressures associated with exams.

They discuss time-management and the importance of scheduling time for yourself.. They also speak about how exercise and connecting with family and friends has helped to reduce anxiety during this stressful time.

Listen to the St Laurence School podcast

Measuring the Impact of our Work

Following discussions by the team at our last meeting, we are looking at ways of measuring the impact of our work to show what difference it is making.

We are planning to include feedback and testimonials from individual young people, their parents & carers; collect data from schools about behaviour and culture change; write case studies for each of our film projects and include the award nominations that have been made about us.

See the new impact tab on our website, which we will add to as projects are completed.

Bath Community Awards

The B&NES Community Awards , where we have been nominated for Charity of the Year , have been postponed until later in the year . Similarly the Young Star Awards , for which we have nominated Finn and Alex , have been postponed until further notice. These are some of the things we included in our nominations for Finn and Alex

Finn

Finn was part of the conference planning team for an event called “Boys in Mind – the story so far” in July , with 9 other young people . He helped plan the activities and spoke at the event . On his own initiative he wrote to local organisations such as The Egg Theatre and the Holburne Museum to get prizes for an activity at the conference and then wrote to thank them all.

Finn speaking at our July conference.

We think of all the things Finn has done what stands out is his kind consideration of other people. He wants the world to be a better place for every body and wants to make sure that people , especially boys and young men , are able to get the support they need when they are struggling or feeling low.

He has also been a great role model for other children of his age ( 9) . When Finn stands up to speak at a conference or in front of 400 children at his school assembly, he is showing other boys (and girls) that it’s Ok to speak out . He is a wonderfully compassionate young man and we at Boys in Mind are very proud of him and the work he’s doing.

Alex

Alex has played a key role in ensuring that the direction of the Boys in Mind strategy is decided by young people. He was involved in our original film project and made 2 films about the depression that kept him off school for 6 months. In the films, he speaks movingly about the shame he felt at not being able to deal with his poor mental health and also about the importance of speaking out and getting help.

Alex is lead student for mental health at Beechen Cliff and co-ordinates the student wellbeing team there, delivering assemblies and liaising with staff to ensure that policies, strategies, lessons etc., meet the needs of students at the school. He is a fantastic role model whose passion and commitment make his input so much more powerful and transformative for the adults and young people he encounters.